Prom, Revisited
by surrexi
Summary: Junior Prom, with and AU twist. Max makes a different decision when he and Liz talk on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I. ***COMPLETE!!!***
1. Snap Decisions

PROM, REVISITED  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell, would I need to write this story? I didn't think so.  
  
Category: Mostly M/L, with a little M/M and I/A  
  
Summary: Junior Prom, with an AU twist. Max makes a different choice when he and Liz are talking on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I.  
  
Feedback: Please. *Pretty Please*  
  
Author's Note: I was reading the transcript for Heart of Mine because of something I needed to do for my website, when I came to the part where Max and Liz are talking on the dance floor. I thought to myself that if Max had made a different decision when Liz went to dance with Maria, things could have turned out much better. I kept reading, but then I just had to see what would happen if Max hadn't just let Liz go. This fic came out of that. Some dialogue is straight from the show and I don't claim to have made it up.  
  
Part One – Snap Decision  
  
  
  
Max took Liz's hand and led her out to the dance floor. A slow song came on and he drew her into his embrace. He wasn't surprised by the fact that it felt like coming home. He hadn't held Liz in a long time. Everything had been so complicated, with the Gandarium and Valenti losing his job and the trip to Vegas. But Liz had asked him to prom and he felt hope for them grow even as he continued to see Tess for their memory retrieval sessions. Max purposely turned his thoughts away from Tess and back to the girl he held in his arms. It felt so right to have her there again.  
  
"Max, I just want to say that I feel really weird."  
  
Max, startled, looked down into her eyes. "What do you mean?"  
  
Liz took a deep breath, preparing herself to say the hated words. "I mean I saw you with Tess."  
  
"Saw me what with Tess?" Max's mind blanked…he hadn't seen Tess except at the pre-prom Crashdown party since their last memory-retrieval session.  
  
Liz steeled herself to get the words out. She couldn't believe he was actually going to make her say it. "I saw you with her. I came by your house yesterday to talk to you about something and you were with her."  
  
Max covered the relief he felt at Liz's words. He could explain. It was going to be okay. "We were just trying to find out things about where I came from, that's all." But Max could tell his words did little to reassure Liz.  
  
"I know, I know, I mean, you know, you keep saying that. But you um, keep on leaving out this really pertinent fact. That you were married to her. I feel like my whole life for the past year has been waiting for some really bad news. Oh, you know, by the way Liz, I remember Tess, and I love her. It's really paralyzing."  
  
"I know it's not easy."  
  
"No, Max, it can be. It can be really, really easy. You know, we both just stop pretending."  
  
"What do you mean?" She couldn't possibly mean what he thought she meant. Because she had it wrong if she did. They weren't pretending. If anyone was pretending, it was Max and Tess. Max's thoughts were racing, but Liz's voice interrupted him.  
  
"You know, maybe we're both just holding on to something that'll never be. Max, maybe we should just let go. I have been in so much pain. This whole year. And it's like I'm suffocating." It was so hard for her to say what she'd said, but Liz knew she had to say them. For Max's sake as much as for her own. She thought back to Future Max's visit. He'd wanted her Max to fall in love with Tess. Liz knew that she was still standing in the way of that.  
  
"Liz..." Max began, but trailed off as she stared up at him with her dark, sad eyes. He couldn't form the words he wanted to say. To say that she was the only girl he could ever want, and that nothing Tess could make him remember about their planet could change that. Nothing.  
  
Max noticed that Liz was looking at Maria, standing by herself.  
  
"Um, I should go, you know, for Maria."  
  
Max knew that if he wanted to save his hopes and dreams about Liz, now was the time to act. He knew that he couldn't leave Liz with all that had been said. And all that hadn't. He also knew that Maria needed Liz.  
  
"Right," he murmured, trying to buy time to think.  
  
"She's all alone tonight." Liz didn't add that she was certain that she herself was about to be as well. After everything, she still didn't want to really say the words that would end things.  
  
A sad, resigned look came into Max's eyes, and Liz knew exactly what he was going to say, and exactly what would happen. He would say go ahead and she would, and they would be over. She couldn't keep the sad look in his eyes from being mirrored in her own. She felt a wall being dragged down between them, and fought the pained cry that wanted to escape her throat.  
  
Suddenly Max's eyes changed, and his look was not one of sad resignation. It was one of stubborn, hopeless determination.  
  
"I'll go with you."  
  
Liz's shocked eyes flew to Max's. He was supposed to say go ahead, she thought wildly. And I was supposed to go ahead and let go.  
  
"You'll go with me?"  
  
"I'll go with you." With those words, Max pasted on his best I'm-gonna- cheer-somebody-up smile and pulled Liz toward Maria.  
  
"I find," Max said as he stopped in front of Maria, "that there are two women in this gym who are more beautiful than all the rest." Maria sent a questioning look to Liz, who shook her head dazedly. Max continued as though he hadn't seen the look. "I also find that I am only dancing with one of them. I believe, and I'm sure you will agree, that as a king, I deserve to dance with both of them." Max kept a serious, expectant; kingly look on his face until Maria and Liz both burst out laughing. He didn't miss a beat.  
  
"You dare mock me? I am a king!" The exaggerated arrogance and outrage in Max's tone put Liz and Maria into further giggle spasms.  
  
"For one dance with the two most beautiful women in this gymnasium, I would gladly renounce my throne," he added gallantly.  
  
"Th-th-that won't be necessary, Your Highness," Maria sputtered between giggles. She grabbed Liz and Max's hands. "Shall we dance, my friends?"  
  
"We shall," declared Liz, and the trio whirled onto the dance floor. Maria and Liz danced wildly, with complete abandon to the fast song the poured out of the gym's sound system. Max was slightly more reserved, but served as a very handy center for Liz and Maria to dance around. All three of them were laughing as they hadn't laughed since Tess' arrival in Roswell. 


	2. Cross Purposes

PROM, REVISITED  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell, would I need to write this story? I didn't think so.  
  
Category: Mostly M/L, with a little M/M and I/A  
  
Summary: Junior Prom, with an AU twist. Max makes a different choice when he and Liz are talking on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I.  
  
Feedback: Please. *Pretty Please*  
  
Author's Note: I was reading the transcript for Heart of Mine because of something I needed to do for my website, when I came to the part where Max and Liz are talking on the dance floor. I thought to myself that if Max had made a different decision when Liz went to dance with Maria, things could have turned out much better. I kept reading, but then I just had to see what would happen if Max hadn't just let Liz go. This fic came out of that. Some dialogue is straight from the show and I don't claim to have made it up.  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Two – Cross Purposes  
  
  
  
Across the crowded gym, Tess watched them silently, bitterness boiling beneath the placid surface she presented. Dammit, she thought to herself, he was supposed to walk away from her. She could tell what they'd been discussing from the pain that had been evident on their faces. She'd felt that she'd been close to winning, and then Max had grown a spine all of the sudden. Her thoughts raging, she didn't hear Kyle coming up behind her.  
  
"I need to talk to you."  
  
"What?" she asked irritably, then she remembered that she was supposed to be interested in Kyle. "Oh it's you. I thought you were someone else."  
  
Kyle smiled. "Let's find somewhere more private."  
  
Tess pasted on a smile and let her thoughts drift to Max. She wasn't really worried about fulfilling her mission; she just had to think about how to get Max past Liz. Tess barely paid attention to what Kyle was saying, trusting herself to make the right inane comments to make it seem like she was listening.  
  
"...don't think it could be a romantic thing."  
  
One less problem to deal with, Tess thought silently. Aloud, she said, "I understand. You know I'm disappointed, but I understand." Disappointed...ha, she thought as she hugged him, and then followed Kyle out to the gym again. 


	3. Dance Lessons

PROM, REVISITED  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell, would I need to write this story? I didn't think so.  
  
Category: Mostly M/L, with a little M/M and I/A  
  
Summary: Junior Prom, with an AU twist. Max makes a different choice when he and Liz are talking on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I.  
  
Feedback: Please. *Pretty Please*  
  
Author's Note: I was reading the transcript for Heart of Mine because of something I needed to do for my website, when I came to the part where Max and Liz are talking on the dance floor. I thought to myself that if Max had made a different decision when Liz went to dance with Maria, things could have turned out much better. I kept reading, but then I just had to see what would happen if Max hadn't just let Liz go. This fic came out of that. Some dialogue is straight from the show and I don't claim to have made it up.  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Three – Dance Lessons  
  
  
  
Michael strode nervously into the gymnasium, looking around warily for Maria. Juanita may think I'm unteachable, he thought, but Maria's gonna have to deal. Suddenly, his eyes lit on Max, Maria, and Liz dancing together wildly. He fought to keep his chin from hitting the floor in shock. Looks like I didn't need lessons after all, he mused, grinning sardonically.  
  
"May I cut in?" he intoned. Three pairs of eyes looked at him in shock. Maria recovered the fastest and spat out "What? Juanita too old for prom?" Then she whirled back to Max and Liz. "Anyway, I'm dancing with a king."  
  
"How do you know about Juanita? And why would my dance teacher want to come to my prom?"  
  
Maria faltered and stopped dancing. "Dance...teacher..." she echoed weakly.  
  
"Dance teacher."  
  
"Max? Liz? What now?"  
  
Max and Liz looked at each other and back at Maria.  
  
"We, uh, we gotta talk." Max said quickly.  
  
"I'm thirsty," Liz said at the same time.  
  
"I'll get punch," Liz said at the same time as Max said, "I'll wait outside." And then they were gone, leaving Maria to explain herself to Michael all alone.  
  
"I'm sorry," she began, but Michael shushed her by putting his finger on her lips.  
  
"Maria, we've been involved in one way or another for almost two years now. I've realized that just about every irrational, stupid, or ill-advised thing you do in connection to me is because you love me. And I love you, despite the irrational, stupid, and ill-advised things you do."  
  
"You got dance lessons for me?" she asked when he removed his hand from in front of her mouth.  
  
"Yes," he replied, and slid his hands around her waist as a slow song came over the speakers. "You were jealous?"  
  
"Yes," she admitted, laying her head on his shoulder. Then neither of them said anything else as they swayed in time to the shuffling beat filling the gym. 


	4. Revelation

PROM, REVISITED  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell, would I need to write this story? I didn't think so.  
  
Category: Mostly M/L, with a little M/M and I/A  
  
Summary: Junior Prom, with an AU twist. Max makes a different choice when he and Liz are talking on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I.  
  
Feedback: Please. *Pretty Please*  
  
Author's Note: I was reading the transcript for Heart of Mine because of something I needed to do for my website, when I came to the part where Max and Liz are talking on the dance floor. I thought to myself that if Max had made a different decision when Liz went to dance with Maria, things could have turned out much better. I kept reading, but then I just had to see what would happen if Max hadn't just let Liz go. This fic came out of that. Some dialogue is straight from the show and I don't claim to have made it up.  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Four – Revelation  
  
  
  
Max was sitting on a bench in the hallway outside the gym waiting for Liz to return with the punch he knew she was just hiding behind when he saw Kyle and Tess approach. He saw them well before they saw him and he watched them approach.  
  
Tess was pretty; he mused...if you liked extremely short girls with annoyingly bouncy barbie curls who whined a lot. He wondered why he hadn't seen that before. Then Tess saw him and his mind began to cloud. He fought the sensation, and he saw that Tess was visibly worried about something at that second. She leaned towards Kyle, said something to him, and strode over to Max.  
  
"You look sad," she began. Neither Tess nor Max noticed Liz standing in the shadows just beyond them, hold two cups of punch.  
  
"I think it's really over," Max said quietly, looking up at Tess thoughtfully.  
  
"You mean with Liz." Tess was careful to sound questioning, despite the fact that she was determined to make it a statement. She was also careful to keep from screaming triumphantly and requesting "We Are the Champions" be played...God knew she couldn't sing it. She sat down carefully next to Max.  
  
"No, I don't mean with Liz." Tess' heart skipped a beat, as did Liz's. Tess' mind went blank with shock, while Liz's quick mind sorted out the only other possible thing Max could mean was over. Max and Tess.  
  
"You don't mean..." Tess stuttered.  
  
Max stood up abruptly and began pacing. "I mean it's over, Tess. No more memory-retrieval sessions if that's what they really are. No more clouding my mind whenever you see me. No more torturing Liz or anyone else with your whining complaints about destiny. And while I'm at it, no more calling Alex 'Al,' or treating him like dirt." Max turned to stare angrily into Tess' eyes. "No more ruining my life or my friends and families' lives for the sake of your stupid ideas about our 'destiny'!"  
  
"Max!" Tess cried, grabbing his wrist. She closed her eyes and concentrated. A vision of his previous-self and Tess' previous-self kissing burst into his brain. Something about the vision communicated that it had been their first kiss.  
  
Max jerked his arm away from Tess' grip. "Don't touch me! And don't you dare put visions in my head of things that may or may not have happened!"  
  
Tess blanched visibly at Max's angry words. Realization dawned over Max.  
  
"That's what you've been doing the whole time isn't it? My God, you've been playing me for a fool this whole time!"  
  
Tess couldn't stop angry tears from spilling over her cheeks. "You weren't supposed to find out, damn you!"  
  
"And that makes it all better? God, Tess! I love Liz! Do you hear me?" Max grabbed Tess' shoulders and shook her. "I love Liz!" He pushed Tess away, and she collapsed back onto the bench in defeat. Max turned back to Tess, leaning over her ominously. "I love her, I've always loved her. Then you came along and screwed it all up. You just wouldn't take no for an answer. And now, thanks to you and your endless manipulation and my own stupidity, Liz is in there getting punch so she'll have an excuse to put off talking to me. I may never work things out with Liz, but I'll be damned if I'm going to go running to you now or ever!" He turned his back on Tess. "Get out of my sight."  
  
"Max..." Tess whined.  
  
"Get out of my sight." The words were cold and emotionless. Tess had lost, and she knew it. She sprang up from the bench and stalked towards the exit. Max turned back to the bench. He looked around quickly, and seeing no one, still not noticing Liz, he swept his hand over the bench about an inch above it. A slight glow showed, then faded, and Max sat down wearily.  
  
Liz emerged from the shadows. Silently she set the two cups of punch down and moved up behind Max. She slipped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.  
  
"I love you, Max," she whispered in his ear.  
  
"Liz!" Max exclaimed, surprised.  
  
"Were you just cleaning that bench?" she asked amusedly.  
  
"Um, yeah...I just didn't want to...how much of that did you see?"  
  
"Oh...from about 'I think it's really over' to 'get out of my sight.'"  
  
Max winced. "That would be everything."  
  
"It would." Liz agreed quietly. Then she walked around the bench and sat down next to Max. "I love you, Max. I've always loved you, even when I didn't know it. I'm sorry I let things go so far."  
  
Max reached out and gently touched Liz's cheek. "None of this was your fault, Liz."  
  
"But it was!" Liz insisted. She took a deep breath. It was time the truth came out. "Do you remember when you asked me how I knew to warn you about the granilith?"  
  
Max nodded.  
  
"I never answered your question. It's high time I did." 


	5. Photographs and Memories

PROM, REVISITED  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Disclaimer: If I owned Roswell, would I need to write this story? I didn't think so.  
  
Category: Mostly M/L, with a little M/M and I/A  
  
Summary: Junior Prom, with an AU twist. Max makes a different choice when he and Liz are talking on the dance floor. M/L, with a little M/M and A/I.  
  
Feedback: Please. *Pretty Please*  
  
Author's Note: I was reading the transcript for Heart of Mine because of something I needed to do for my website, when I came to the part where Max and Liz are talking on the dance floor. I thought to myself that if Max had made a different decision when Liz went to dance with Maria, things could have turned out much better. I kept reading, but then I just had to see what would happen if Max hadn't just let Liz go. This fic came out of that. Some dialogue is straight from the show and I don't claim to have made it up.  
  
  
  
  
  
Part Four – Photographs and Memories  
  
  
  
Michael and Maria were sitting by the snack table in the gym. They held hands and simply enjoyed each others company while they watched the people around them dance and have fun.  
  
"Hey guys, hope you are having as good a time as we are!" came a voice from beside them. They looked up.  
  
"Alex! You'll never guess what Michael did for me!" Maria exclaimed, giving Alex a quick hug, then pulling him down to sit next to her. "Hey Isabel," she added when she noticed she'd torn Alex's hand out of Isabel's, then continued, "He took dance lessons! Dance lessons! Can you believe it?"  
  
Alex laughed. "Not really. Izzy?"  
  
"Me either," Isabel said, smiling as she sat down next to Alex and slid her hand back into his.  
  
Maria picked up on the movement and raised her eyebrows at Alex.  
  
"Later," he said mildly.  
  
Isabel glanced at Alex and Maria curiously, then decided whatever it was, it was some best friends thing.  
  
"Have you guys seen Max and Liz? They're finished with the couple portraits and they're offering to take group shots," Isabel asked, gesturing towards the photographers set up in the corner of the gym.  
  
Maria glanced at Michael. He shook his head. "We haven't seen them since Michael got here. What about Kyle?"  
  
Isabel shook her head. "I haven't seen him either. Or Tess," she added belatedly.  
  
"What about Tess?" asked Kyle as he strode up to the group.  
  
"We haven't seen her."  
  
"Last I saw she was about to talk to Max."  
  
"Uh-oh," Maria said.  
  
"What?" Kyle asked.  
  
"Max was going to talk to Liz."  
  
"Maybe we should check on them..." Isabel said quietly. The group nodded, and they all got up and headed out of the gym, following Kyle.  
  
"Max was sitting out..." Kyle trailed off as the group came upon Max and Liz making out. Really making out.  
  
"Well," Maria murmured, "that's better than any of us hoped for."  
  
They all looked at each other with a combination of amusement and unease. None of them wanted to try to distract Max and Liz, but they wanted that group picture; and they were happy Max and Liz were, by all appearances, back together again.  
  
"Lord!" Michael exclaimed suddenly. "I'll do it." He strode over to Max and Liz. "Hey Maxwell, get your hands off your girl so she can get her picture taken with her best friends!" With that, Michael whapped Max upside the head.  
  
"What?" Max and Liz broke apart and stared at the five people staring back at them expectantly.  
  
"What?" Max repeated.  
  
"I take it you two have reconciled?" Isabel asked mildly.  
  
Max pulled Liz closer to his side. "You had to have Michael hit me to ask me that?"  
  
"No," Maria answered, smiling widely, "we had Michael hit you so we could get a group picture taken." Maria grabbed Isabel's hand, then dragged a red-faced and giggling Liz off of Max's lap. "Let's go fix our make up, ladies. After tonight, all we'll have left of Junior Prom is photographs and memories!"  
  
The girls disappeared, and Michael looked questioningly at Max. "I thought you guys were drifting apart."  
  
"We drifted back together."  
  
"Max, do you know where Tess went?" Kyle asked.  
  
"No." Max said coldly. "And I don't care to know, and neither should you. I think it would be smart to stay away from Tess."  
  
Alex saw the fire leap into Kyle's eyes and assessed the cold determination in Max's eyes. "I'd say," he interrupted, "that this issue is one we should address after we get pictures taken."  
  
"But what about..." Kyle began.  
  
"Kyle, do you really want her in the picture?" Alex asked. "Cuz if you do, I'm sure that Max can restrain himself long enough to get one taken."  
  
Kyle thought for a moment, then looked at Max's bleak face. "No," he answered. "Even without Max's problem...somehow I really don't mind that we can't find Tess."  
  
Just then, Maria, Isabel, and Liz returned from the bathroom. The seven friends made their way to the photographer, laughing and joking the whole way.  
  
  
  
It's April 27th, I'm Liz Parker, and I've finally remembered why I got into this in the first place. I love Max Evans, and he loves me. I thought that clinging to us was stifling us, holding us back. But now I realize that it was only that we were holding on to the wrong things. Now we're back to basics, and my heart is open again. And I'm writing again. I'm feeling again. I'm breathing again. But most of all, I'm loving again.  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to everybody who's left feedback! I'm glad you've liked this story. It popped into my head almost complete and I knew I had to write it down and share it, so here it is. Junior Prom as it should have been. I was, and I know a lot of Dreamers were, screaming in rage at the television at the end of Heart of Mine...then I almost cried, lol. I hope you've liked this last chapter. Tell me about it please! (Okay, fine, yes I'm fishing for compliments…but hey, if you didn't like it…I can handle constructive criticism, too! Just don't burn me...) ~~Liz 


End file.
